In his first one-on-one televised interview as Mitt Romney’s vice presidential running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan demonstrated just why Romney’s first major decision of his potential presidency was a home run. (see the complete interview in the video below)

In naming Paul Ryan his running mate, Mitt Romney made a statement that was far louder than any words could be. It was statement that made it clear that as President, Romney will be focused on addressing the issues that up to now, Republicans and Democrats alike have ignored, our nation’s debt and the entitlement reforms which tend to be responsible for the largest portion of our debt.

In the interview conducted by Britt Hume for Fox News, Congressman Ryan directly addressed the controversial issues of Medicare reform, Obamacare, budget balancing, tax cuts and everything which the left is preparing to demonize the Romney-Ryan ticket for. And in addressing those issues, Ryan proved to be an artful master of the economic crisis confronting our nation.

Ryan successfully put Democrats on the defensive and made it clear that while President Obama and his Party are exacerbating our problems, he and Mitt Romney are proposing actions that will lead to solutions to our problems.

According to Ryan;

“We’re the ones who are offering a plan to save Medicare, to protect Medicare, to strengthen Medicare. We’re the ones who are not raiding Medicare to pay for Obamacare. We’re the ones who are repealing President Obama’s 15-person bureaucratic board that will put price controls on Medicare that will lead to denied care for current seniors. We’re the ones continuing the guarantee of Medicare for people in or near retirement. And you have to reform it for the younger generation in order tomake the commitment stick for the current generation. President Obama is actually damaging Medicare for current seniors. It’s irrefutable. And that’s why I think this is a debate we want to have, and that’s a debate we’re going to win.”

While the interview was filled with enlightening answers on a host of issues, the last sentence of the above response was probably the most telling.

It was an indication of the Romney-Ryan ticket’s decision to put their money on the American people’s ability and desire to finally deal with the devils that are in the details of our economic woes. It was a sign that Mitt Romney might actually be serious and courageous enough to touch the third rails in politics that most politicians have spent more than 3 decades dancing around. As such, Romney and Ryan are taking a gamble on whether or not the American voter is willing to admit that harsh decisions must be made and that fundamental reforms have to be applied to a broken federal bureaucracy that is steering our economy in a dangerously erroneous direction. It is an electoral gamble that indicates Romney and Ryan are courageous enough to be politically and intellectually honest with the America and provide them with bona fide choices in this election. And the interview with Ryan verified that if anyone can explain those choices to the people and lay out the case for what needs to be done, it is Paul Ryan.

Throughout Ryan’s televised discussion he displayed an incomparable command of the issues, a command of the issues that came off as being so natural to Ryan that it helped instill in viewers a level of confidence and trust in him and his proposals that few other politicians could establish in such a small amount of time. Between Ryan’s non-abrasive demeanor and the innate enthusiasm that emanated from him when addressing the ability to implement real solutions to reverse our nation’s downward spiral into debt, one couldn’t help but sense a degree of sincerity from Paul Ryan that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and as hard as it is to admit, even Mitt Romney, fail to convey when they are addressing the same issues. While all three of those men come across as politicians, Ryan comes across as a problem solver and that is what America is looking for in 2012. This interview provided evidence that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan may actually be those problems solvers.